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Gene Mods
Gene Mods or Genetic Modifications (aka G-Mods) are new upgrades that can be taken by soldiers in XCOM: Enemy Within. XCOM Database Up to five genetic modifications may be applied to a single soldier. They modify a variety of human anatomical systems, yielding different tactical advantages. Performing alien autopsies can result in access to new genetic modifications. Genetic Modification Using Meld to organically fuse elements of alien genetic adaptions into a soldier's body, Gene Mods grant the individual new super-human capabilities. Gene Mods are applied at the Genetics Lab, which can modify up to three soldiers at a time. Soldiers are removed from active duty for three days for each Gene Mod applied. Gene Mods can be administered to any soldier except MEC Troopers. Soldiers with Gene Mods can undergo Psi testing and the genetic modifications stack with Psi abilities. The Second Wave option "Mind Hates Matter" can be enabled to prevent this combination. Gene Mods Applying a Gene Mod costs 15 to 75 Credits (§) and consumes 5 to 35 Meld. One Gene Mod can be applied to each of the following areas of a soldier's body (they can be swapped at a cost). Gene Mod Comparisons 'Neural Feedback vs Neural Damping' *Neural Feedback is very useful in the mid and late game when Sectoid Commanders or Ethereals start to appear. It will always damage the psi attacker and force all their psi abilities on cooldown regardless of whether the psi attack was successful or not; this allows other squad members to easily close in on the psi attackers without further risk. *Neural Damping confers +20 Will to soldiers against psi attacks and provides panic immunity. Successful Mind Control is cancelled and the soldier is rendered unconscious for 1 turn. *Although it provides immunity against Mind Control, Ethereals will still be able to use other dangerous psi abilities such as Psi Lance or Rift. *Neural Feedback provides a greater advantage against psi attackers. In late game, squad composition consist of psi soldiers with high Will and Mind Shield. Furthermore, Neural Feedback is capable of rendering an Ethereal into a walking target because all their abilities are psi based. 'Hyper Reactive Pupils vs Depth Perception' *Hyper Reactive Pupils confer a +10 Aim after missing a shot. This also applies to the first shot of Rapid Fire should the soldier miss. *Depth Perception confers additional +5 Aim and +5 Crit Chance bonuses for height advantage. The mod is best applied for Snipers who typically should seek elevated firing positions. When combined with Squadsight, Damn Good Ground and a S.C.O.P.E., the stacked bonuses allow a Sniper to be ridiculously accurate most of the time while remaining outside of enemy range. *Both mods are useful for their respective candidates and should be an early choice to be applied to soldiers. 'Adrenal Neurosympathy vs Secondary Heart' *Neither gene mod is dramatically better than the other, though each is more suited to certain roles: **Generally, it's best to spend Meld on other more useful gene mods early on. **Adrenal Neurosympathy is the less expensive option between them. It doesn't stack with itself, so multiple soldiers with this mod can be tricky to synergize. **Adrenal Neurosympathy is probably better because although it's never particularly powerful, it also never completely stops being useful, whereas Secondary Heart is of almost no value towards the end of the game. Also, because Adrenal Neurosympathy can increase Aim, it can help Rookies and Squaddies get the first few crucial kills they need in order to start leveling, even later in the game as alien Defense numbers become much higher. *'Adrenal Neurosympathy' confers +10 Aim, +1 Movement, +5% Critical Chance and removes panic from allies within LoS of 13 tiles once every 5 turns after a kill. **Only confers the bonus to allies in LoS. The Gene Mod works well with Snipers in elevated positions, but less so with Squadsight Snipers who tend to hang back from the rest of the squad. **When given to multiple soldiers, can increase the frequency of activation of the bonus but the bonuses do not stack and will only reset its duration. **The additional aim and movement boost can be a determining factor if a soldier manages to hit a target or move into better cover. However due to the bonus only occurring once every 5 turns after a kill, the chances of the bonus getting conferred is highly unpredictable. **Soldiers that don't get many kills, such as a Flush Assault, a Suppression Support, or a Suppression Heavy, will have less use for this ability. *'Secondary Heart' causes a soldier to be critically wounded and extends bleeding out by 2 turns. Soldiers that survive will also not lose Will from critical wounds. **Does not defend against AoE damage (e.g. grenades) when critically wounded, and only protects against the first lethal shot in a mission. ***Chryssalids can bypass Secondary Heart completely and still kill the soldier. ***Sectopods can bypass Secondary Heart with the Cluster Bomb ability. **Works great with Adaptive Bone Marrow and is best applied to critical VIP soldiers (i.e. Psionic / Squad Leader). These soldiers can perform seemingly suicidal attacks, allowing them to "tank" the alien damage or kill the key targets. **Shotgun-using Assaults with skills such as Rapid Fire, Close Combat Specialist, and Close and Personal can become effective 'suicide bombers', running into close range and delivering three powerful high crit-chance attacks to a main target with this skill, then going down afterwards. Ensure a Medikit is available to stabilize the Assault afterwards. **Has greater usefulness in early-to-mid game when enemy aliens have higher tech compared to the soldiers. Late game, its usefulness is diminished when Titan Armor and plasma weaponry have been developed. Furthermore, soldiers with Mimetic Skin or Muscle Fiber Density will already have reduced risk from ambush attacks. **This gene mod allows the squad to be less concerned by Mind Control - a Mind Controlled ally can be gunned down without concern, then revived afterwards. Since Mind-controlled soldiers often ignore cover in order to deliver point-blank shots to their squadmates, downing them can be easy if they are not still at high health levels. **Most useful in Ironman mode, resulting in fewer deaths and no loss of Will for potential Psi candidates. 'Muscle Fiber Density vs Adaptive Bone Marrow' *Muscle Fiber Density allows a soldier to reach elevated positions without the need of climbing aids. Indirectly it allows a soldier to travel further especially in alien ships when there are many elevated positions. *The gene mod is especially useful for Snipers with Squadsight to move into elevated firing positions. The gene mod is also useful for soldiers to enter into elevated cover in order to reduce the chances of getting hit by an enemy. *Adaptive Bone Marrow reduces wound recovery time by 66% which stacks with Rapid Recovery and allows a soldier to regenerate 2 HP per turn up to their max HP without armor. 2 HP/turn is enough to be noticeable, but not hugely valuable in most situations. *Most players seem to prefer Muscle Fiber Density, as it indirectly gives you the ability to travel faster and makes you less married to the armors that carry a grapple or flight system. However Adaptive Bone Marrow can be useful if your best soldiers have high base (armorless) HP, which can happen with soldiers that are given as mission awards or as part of expansion content (Shaojie Zhang is the best example of this since he starts with bonus HP and will often be one of your best late game characters). It also significantly increases the uptime of your best soldiers, and in the late game it can sometimes be frustrating to have your best soldiers out for so long with gene mods, psi screening, and injuries. If you are pursuing a strategy that uses a lot of Skeleton/Ghost/Archangel armor anyway, and you don't have a really deep roster of great soldiers and need to have ready access to your very best gals/guys, it's worth considering choosing Adaptive Bone Marrow over Muscle Fiber Density. 'Bioelectric Skin vs Mimetic Skin' *Bioelectric Skin reveals the positions of enemies, but does not reveal enemy type or their LoS. As such soldiers can still accidentally trigger enemies when they move between cover when attempting an ambush. *Bioelectric Skin also reveals Seekers and prevents strangulation. However Seekers becomes rarer in late game and Bioelectric Skin becomes less useful. *Mimetic Skin allows a soldier to cloak indefinitely as long as full cover is used and enemy LoS was not established. Snipers with Low Profile are also able to cloak with partial cover. This allows a soldier to scout and plan ambushes without the risk of being detected. Soldiers can also act as spotters for Snipers with Squadsight while remaining undetected. *The indefinite cloak from Mimetic Skin allows a soldier to forgo Ghost Armor that has a limited cloaking usages. This allows research and cash to be focused on the development of other projects or armors. Soldiers can also wear other unique armors while retaining abilities that emulate Ghost Armor. *Mimetic Skin is not deactivated if Psi Inspiration is used. This allows a psionic soldier to strengthen his/her will before performing difficult psi attacks such as Mind Control. *Be careful when placing Mimetic Skin on an Assault with the ability Close Combat Specialist. The soldier will be decloaked when it uses this ability, potentially "waking up" a pack of monsters or exposing itself to certain death. *Mimetic Skin clearly overshadows Bioelectric Skin because of its indefinite cloaking and its late game benefits. Soldiers have a better chance of survival from ambushes especially from late game enemies. Seekers are pretty obnoxious without Bioelectric Skin, but since their strangulation attack can never kill an undamaged unit outright, and since units on Overwatch (other than the Seeker's victim) can fire on the Seeker as it decloaks to attach itself, they are not truly dangerous to an experienced player. Seekers are most dangerous when they first appear because they have a relatively high defense and can theoretically kill a Rookie in 2 turns while the rest of the squad repeatedly misses them or only partially damages them with tier 1 weaponry. However, you will not be able to get Bioelectric Skin until you have a Chryssalid corpse, by which point you will find Seekers less dangerous than when they first appeared. *All that being said, however, it's not very expensive to get Bioelectric Skin early and then swap it out later for Mimetic Skin if desired. You only really need one unit per squad to have Bioelectric Skin in order to decloak Seekers. *Once you learn how to use Mimetic Skin, you will probably find it to be the single most powerful gene mod, which is why it has a relatively high Meld cost. You may want to think very hard before using Meld for any other reason because a squad of 6 soldiers equipped with Mimetic Skin can beat the last mission -extremely- easily with careful play, even on Impossible difficulty, especially if several of the soldiers are also Squadsight snipers and/or psi gifted. Build and Tactics 'Sniper Class' *Sniper class soldiers with Low Profile should equip Mimetic Skin as it allows the sniper to cloak indefinitely as long as he/she is in cover. Snipers with Squadsight can easily position themselves on higher ground while snipers with Snap Shot can function as a hit and run unit. *Snipers should also equip Depth Perception to stack along with Damn Good Ground and S.C.O.P.E.. This will grant a sniper an accuracy of more than 90% from elevated positions frequently. *Snipers also benefit greatly from Muscle Fiber Density as it allows a sniper to quickly position themselves in an otherwise inaccessible high ground. *It is also optional for a sniper to equip Adrenal Neurosympathy which is especially useful when a sniper is in elevated positions. Every ally in LoS receives the bonus when a sniper scores a kill once every 5 turns. *Neural Feedback should only be equipped if a sniper with Snap Shot is used. The sniper will be able to damage a psi attacker should they be exposed to psi attacks when in enemy LoS. 'Heavy Class' 'Bullet Storm & Mayhem Build' *Heavy Class soldiers have higher natural HP than other classes, and thus (arguably) benefit the most from Adaptive Bone Marrow. *Heavies with Bullet Swarm heavily benefit from Hyper-Reactive Pupils, as they can fire twice in a single turn. Combined with a S.C.O.P.E., Heavies can dish out a lot of damage without resorting to explosives. *With Bioelectric Skin, Mayhem, and a Blaster Launcher, Heavy Classes can kill most enemies without the need to see them. *Adrenal Neurosympathy works well when BUFFING Heavies with, while Mimetic Skin and Bullet Swarm allows the Heavy to use powerful hit-and-run tactics. *Neural Feedback is useful for finishing off Psionic enemies after an attack, while Neural Dampening prevents a potentially dangerous situation; Heavies have no pistols to switch to when attacking Psionic enemies, so mind-controlled Heavies will attack with high-powered weapons. 'Assault Class' *An Assault with Mimetic Skin can safely sneak behind enemy lines and let loose a flanked Rapid Fire shot on the toughest enemy available. *The Assault is likely to be the furthest away from any Supports, so Adaptive Bone Marrow will allow an Assault to come back fighting. Also, Adaptive Bone Marrow works well if combined with Extra Conditioning. *Neural Feedback will be useful, especially if your Assault is facing off a Sectoid Commander or two. *Hyper-Reactive Pupils will definitely help when using Rapid Fire. 'Support Class' *Adrenal Neurosympathy will allow your Support to buff all your other members of the squad, as well as healing them and providing adequate defense with Smoke Grenades. *Muscle Fibre Density will allow the Support to traverse any terrain with ease, enabling them to reach a stranded ally in danger *If your Support has Sentinel, Hyper-Reactive Pupils will help when using Overwatch. *Bioelectric Skin allows your Support to reveal any nearby enemies, which can be disposed of with Grenades or a Blaster Launcher. Notes *Soldiers with Gene Mods will receive unique versions of the various armor types featuring the same sleeveless armor design with access to eight different armor deco options specifically just for them. *If a soldier gets knocked out by Neural Dampening whilst on Overwatch, followed immediately by an enemy crossing their line of sight and triggering a reaction shot, the game will get stuck in the slow-mo animation because the soldier is unconscious and unable to shoot. This will also happen when using Close Combat Specialist. Until this bug is fixed, it would be advisable to avoid putting soldiers with Neural Dampening on Overwatch when engaging Sectoid Commanders or Ethereals. *The words "Mutare Ad Custodiam" in the emblem translates to "Change to Protect". Gallery XCOM(EW)_GeneMod_TreatmentComplete.jpg|A soldier emerges from a Gene Mod treatment. XCOM_EW_GeneModSniper_KillsMuton.jpg|A gene-modded Sniper kills a Muton. Category:Gene Mods (XCOM: Enemy Within)